A woman trapped in a black SUV scrawled her husband's phone number on a piece of paper and flashed it to rescuers and reporters in the hopes that one of them would contact her husband.

Sarah Lee, a reporter with CNN affiliate WJLA-TV, called to assure the woman's husband that "several highly skilled swift water rescue personnel" were working to save his wife.

The woman and another passenger in the car were placed in a rescue boat, but were "absolutely horrified, gripping onto the railings in the boat for their safety," said Lee.

A massive water main break in Cabin John, Maryland, near the communities of Potomac and Bethesda, unleashed the flood during rush-hour Tuesday morning.

The water main, 66 inches in diameter, unleashed the wall of water just before 8 a.m. that, at its height, was four feet high and 60 to 70 feet wide, Montgomery County police said.

"I knew that the cars were unstable just by the amount of water that was rushing by," said Jim MacKay, a Maryland State Police civilian helicopter pilot who flew to the scene from Andrews Air Force Base.

MacKay, maneuvered his helicopter around tree limbs and power lines to hoist people to safety. The water's temperature made the situation even more dire, according to MacKay. Temperatures in the area dropped to nearly 18 degrees.

"The water had gotten into the car, so these people were at risk of hypothermia," he said. "They were soaking wet."